The first Indian to win the golden trio of Grand Prix gold, Super Series and Super Series Premier titles – that honor goes to Srikanth Kidambi, who won the Indonesian Super Series Premier men’s singles on Sunday. He beat Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai to win the USD 1,000,000 prize money.
This is the eighth world title for the 24-year-old who had started off his professional career in 2008. At the peak of his career in 2015, Srikanth was ranked World No: 3. He has since slipped a few points and currently occupies the 22nd position in the World Men's Singles Ranking.
The right-handed shuttler had made the headlines first in 2014 when he won the China Open Super Series tournament against the former World No:1 and two-time Olympic champion Lin-Dan (21-19, 21-17) in a historic upset.
A string of wins followed until what many consider to be a pivotal moment in Srikanth’s career – the Rio Olympics 2016. In the quarter-finals, the Indian player met the Lin-Dan again. Srikanth refers to it as “one of the biggest matches” of his career.
“It was my first Olympics and playing Lin Dan was one of the biggest matches of my career and I was under pressure. I don’t know if I am in a better position now but I know no match can push me to that limit. That match gave me a lot of positives,” he said to PTI about it.
Srikanth Kidambi of India competes against Dan Lin of China during the Men's Singles Quarterfinal Badminton match Day 12 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Guntur boy ended up losing the match 6—21, 21—11, 18—21 to Lin-Dan. The period that followed was a difficult time for him – he injured his right ankle in the Japan Open and the injury demanded that he stay away from the game for a while.
“I was out of badminton for sometime after the Olympics. It was the longest time that I have been out ever since I started playing, so that phase kept motivating me. It was tough to come out of that injury phase,” he says to PTI.
Towards the end of October of that year, the shuttler had shared a video of a training session on his Facebook page. In the video, a spiffy Srikanth is seen sitting on a stool with a cast from knee down. Even though he was unable to walk, the player is practicing his shots as his trainer throws one shuttlecock after another at him.
The continuous training seems to have paid off. Srikanth made a strong comeback in 2017 and reached the final of the Singapore Open where he lost to B.Sai Praneeth a few weeks prior to the Indonesia Open. Both the players were mentored by Pullela Gopichand at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
His current win in the Indonesia Open was appreciated by the country’s top leader and fellow sportsmen alike. The Badminton Association of India announced an award of ₹5,00,000 for the player. Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a 10 feet long badminton racket and a cork on Puri beach to congratulate the ace shuttler.
For Srikanth, however, it’s work as usual. He is already flying to Australia to compete in the Australian Open which begins on June 20.
“The Australian Open is the last tournament before the World Championship and I am looking forward to it,” he says to PTI. “Indonesia Open is a big confidence-booster for me ahead and I would give my 100 per cent here. I hope there is a lot more to come.”